Emerging Infections

Societal, technological, and environmental factors continue to have a dramatic effect on infectious diseases worldwide, facilitating the emergence of new diseases and the reemergence of old ones, sometimes in drug-resistant forms.

Emerging Infections Programs

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched the Emerging Infections Program (EIP) in 1995 to develop centers of excellence in infectious disease surveillance and applied public health research in selected state health departments across the United States. The EIP network now includes 10 state health departments (California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Maryland, Minnesota, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, and Tennessee) and their collaborators.

The cornerstone of all EIP programs is an emphasis on active population-based surveillance for infections of public health importance. These surveillance data are used to generate reliable estimates of the incidence of these infections and provide the starting point for further exploration of risk factors, spectrum of disease, and better strategies for prevention and control. To learn more, visit CDC's EIP website.

Oregon's EIP

Oregon's EIP is housed in the Oregon Health Authority's Acute and Communicable Disease Prevention Section and includes these core activities:

	Active Bacterial Core Surveillance (ABCs) Active population-based laboratory surveillance for invasive bacterial disease due to: groups A and B streptococcus, Haemophilus influenzae, Neisseria meningitidis, Streptococcus pneumoniae, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.
	Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance (FoodNet) FoodNet is an active laboratory and population-based surveillance system to monitor the incidence of foodborne diseases of local and national public health importance.
	Healthcare-Associated Infections Surveillance Active population-based surveillance for healthcare-associated infections due to Candida, multidrug-resistant bacilli, and Clostridium difficile, as well as broad studies of HAI prevalence and methods to improve HAI surveillance.
	Influenza Hospital Surveillance Active population-based surveillance for laboratory confirmed influenza-related hospitalizations.